About two dozen people attended Tuesday's meeting of the Upper Hanover Township Supervisors.  Most of them were interested in a public hearing that would be held during the meeting regarding a possible zoning change to a large portion of a 44-acre parcel of land in the southern portion of the township.

            The public hearing, originally scheduled for Jan. 11, was postponed until this past Tuesday/.

            A majority of the tract is currently zoned for Light Industrial and Limited Commercial (LIC-1) use.  A small portion of the tract is zoned for Medium Density Residential District (R2).

            Known as the Demeno property, the parcel borders Red Hill borough and Marlborough Township, along Gravel Pike.

            Representatives of D. R. Horton, Inc., a Texas-based builder, were seeking to change the zoning to allow for up to 84 single-family homes to be built on average lot sizes of 10,000 square feet.  Access to the development would have been on Gravel Pike with a second access to two lots off Washington Street.  Emergency-only access was planned off Second Street.

            In November of last year, the Upper Hanover Township Planning Commission gave recommended that the supervisors consider a public hearing for the zoning change request.

            At the beginning of the public hearing, Township Solicitor Joseph Bresnan announced that the purpose of the hearing was to consider the zoning change from LIC-1 to R2 and that the development was not being considered at this time. 

            If the zoning change was approved, the development would need to go through a separate process.  If the zoning change was approved, a covenant would be included restricting any development to be similar to the one proposed 

            After testimony by professional Land Planner John Kennedy and Traffic Engineer John Harner recommending the zoning change and the housing development concept over a possible warehousing facility at the location, several residents raised questions about the proposal.

             Concerns were expressed about the impact of additional traffic as well as the impact on the student population in the school district.  One concern expressed was in regard to neighboring properties that were zoned LIC-1 and used as such. 

Could a change to the requested area be used as a precedent if those property owners wanted the same change?  Would existing permitted uses come under fire from new homeowners for noise generated from their current manufacturing processes?

            With the primary access from the proposed development on Gravel Pike, Harner raised concerns when he said that the amount of traffic generated would not be enough for PennDOT to consider installing a traffic light there.

            At the conclusion of the hearing, Supervisor Tim Woodward opined, "If I had my way the land would be nothing but farms."  He added that with a warehouse, the community will be far worse off than with houses. 

Supervisor Ben Fiorito said, "The township is a great place to live and we will never be able to keep it the way it is.  But we must grow slowly."

            When the vote was called, supervisor's Chairman Steve Rothenberger, along with Supervisor Steffan Laessig, voted for the zoning change with supervisors Ben Fiorito and Tim Woodward voting against it.  With supervisor Dottie Diehl absent, the 2-2 tie caused the motion to fail.

            In other news, Fiorito reported that new rules for municipal spending for those receiving less than $10 million would allow the option to allocate the money to the general fund for township expenses, with exceptions.  The exceptions include spending for pensions, transfers for financial revenue, and to pay down debt.  Upper Hanover's allocation is $841,000. 

Fiorito recommended that the township take the option.  The news was met with approval by the officials who will take the option.

            Regarding the proposed industrial development of a warehouse at 2512 Quakertown Avenue, a change to the Action Time Limit by the applicant to May 31, 2022 was approved.

            Dale Young was approved as an alternate to the planning commission.